Water-craft



April 2, 1963 R. D. HAVENS ETAL WATER-CRAFT Filed May 19. 1958 Ila b Am, q-sa CM",

INVENTORS. Flt/mm: D. flare-NJ.

WM 414M E. V/AL/NEJ.

3,083,382 Patented Apr. 2, 1963 3,083,332 WATER-CRAFT Richard D. Havens, Evansville, and William E. Villines, Posey County, Ind; said Richard D. Havens assign-or to William E. Villines Filed May 19, 1958, Ser. No. 736,139 3 Claims. (Cl. 92)

The present invention relates to water-craft and more particularly to a catamaran type of boat which is readily controlled during use, which is light in weight and which is capable of effective disassembly for carrying and storage.

Heretofore, the catamaran type of Water-craft in use included a multiplicity of parts and components formed into a craft which was heavy and bulky in size, and, accordingly, dillicult to store or to transport to any desired body of Water. Moreover, these previous forms of watercraft did not generally provide the necessary freedom of control during the use thereof which permitted ease in fishing or for any other type of water hobby.

By virtue of the applicants novel invention, a catamaran type of water-craft is provided which is extremely compact and stable in size and displacement and which permits the necessary freedom to engage in a Water hobby, such as fishing, for example. The components forming the instant water-craft are readily disassembled and/or foldable to facilitate handling, storage and transporting. This case of handling, storage and transporting of the boat, as well as the important factor of safety during use, is further accomplished by the use of pontoons formed, in the preferred embodiment, of an expanded beaded polystyrene, for example. in addition, the water-craft may be readily assembled to provide various types of custom designs suitable for any desired use,

A principal object of the present invention therefore is to provide a water-craft which is readily and effectively controllable during use and which may be easily disassembled and folded to facilitate handling, storage and transportation.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a water-craft which may be effectively and simply modified to effect various designs suitable for difierent uses.

A further and more general object of the invention is to provide a Water-craft which affords a high degree of freedom during the use thereof and which at the same time provides the necessary and desired high degree of safety.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a water-craft of the catamaran type which has its weight supporting members formed from a material light in weight and yet highly impervious to liquid.

Other objects and a better understanding of the invention will be more apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which FIG. 1 is a plan view of the applicants novel catamaran type of water-craft;

'FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the water-craft of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the water-craft when disassembled and folded for transport;

FIG. 4 is a view in side elevation of the disassembled and folded water-craft of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation of the power unit for the applicants novel water-craft.

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawing and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated device, and such further applications [of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, the applicants novel water-craft comprises pontoons or load supporting members 11, each of which are formed into three sections 11a, 11b and lie, with the respective sections being hinged together at the bottom of the craft at lie. Each of the pontoons 11 may be provided with a recessed portion lid in the central section 11b thereof which may be used to receive fishing articles, for example. The pontoons 11 are preferably formed from an expanded beaded polystyrene material, for example, which is light in weight and which is impervious to water. Use of the expanded beaded polystyrene material is desirable to afford the high degree of safety provided by the applicants watercraft as well as the minimum in weight thereof which facilitates handling, storage and transporting of the boat.

Attached to the sections illb of the pontoon structures 11 are mounting brackets 12, between pairs of which tubular frame members 14 extend from one pontoon 11 to the other. The tubular frame members 14 removably en.- gage the mounting brackets 12 by set screws (not shown) or any similar arrangement which permits the rapid dis assembly thereof.

A foldable seat 16 is provided in the area between the pontoons l1 and the tubular frame members 14, the rear legs 16b thereof being removably supported by one of the tubular frame members 14 through a conventional forked arrangement (not shown) at the free ends thereof. The front legs 16c of the foldable seat 16 are supported by the central sections 11b of the pontoons 11.

A power unit 30, to be discussed herebelow in more detail in connection with FIG. 5, is secured to and mounted on the other tubular frame member 14 extending between the central sections 11b of the pontoons 11. Brackets 21 extend forwardly and rearwardly, respective.- ly, from each of the tubular frame members it, and extending downwardly therefrom are rudders 22. Each of the rudders 22 has a fixed section 23 angled therewith so that movement of the section 23 effects rotation of the rudder 22. Extending between the fixed sections 23 is a control member or steering rod 25 having an upwardly extending handle 26 secured thereto. Handle 26 may be positioned at various locations along the steering rod 25, as desired. As will be discussed in detail herebelow, the forward or rearward movement of the handle 26 and hence the steering rod 25 results in the simultaneous movement of the rudders 22 to control the direction of movement of the boat Referring now to FIG. 5, the power unit 30 is secured to the tubular frame member 14 through a mounting clamp 31 which has a locking screw and handle 31a forming a part thereof. The mounting clamp 31 engages the frame 32 of the power unit 30 to retain the entire unit in operating position. The upper portion of the power unit 3%) comprises a foot or hand operated crank 34 which operates a disk 35 having gears 35a around the periphery thereof. The gears 35a on the disk 35 engage a bevel gear 321;; formed on the upper end of a drive shaft 36 which extends through the center of the frame 32 of the power unit 36. The lower end of the drive shaft 36 has a bevel gear 351) thereon which engages another bevel gear 43b on a shaft 43 inside of a casing 49. Shaft 43 extends through a sleeve 41 secured by an angle member 4.2 to the frame 32 of the power unit 30 and receives a propeller 45 near the other end thereof, with a locking nut 43a being provided to complete the unit. It should be understood that the frame 32 of the power unit 30 is preferably formed into three sections, at 33, which are secured together by internal threads (not shown) and which permit the disassembly of the unit when the watercraft is disassembled for transporting and storage.

Referring now toFiG. 3 and FIG. 4, the water-craft of FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown in disassembled or folded position. The power unit 39 has been removed through loosening the clamp 31, discussed hereabove, and the tubular members 14 have been loosened so that the pontoons 11 may be pushed closely together. The foldahle chair 16 is collapsed and the rudder assemblies are rotated 18% de grees so that the front edges thereof each generally face each other. As is apparent from FIG. 4, the outer sections 11a and lie of the pontoons 11 are folded under the central sections 1111 to make the entire craft very compact in size and readily portable.

In operation, as should be apparent from the preceding discussion, the applicants novel water-craft is readily assembled for use after storage and transport. The end sections 11:: and 110 of the pontoons 11 are rotated at hinges lle to form the desired weight supporting members. The upward force exerted by the water retains the respective sections of the pontoons 11 in operative relationship, i.e. with the end walls of the respective sections in parallel engaging relationship. The power unit 3% is readily mounted onto the tubular frame member 14 in front of the foldable seat 16 through clamp 31. The steering rod 25 is moved so that the rudders 22 each extend outwardly from either end of the boat and the foldable seat 16 is moved to its normal seating position.

As should be evident, the user of the water-craft sits in foldable seat 16, which may be provided with a seat back 16a, and propels the vessel by his feet, for example, operating the crank 34 for the disk 35 of the power unit 30. Rotation of the disk 35 efifects rotation of the operating rod 36 through gears 35a and 36a and hence the propeller through gears 36b and 43b, and the boat moves. The direction of movement of the boat is controlled through the steering rod 25 which controls the simultaneous movement of the rudders 22. It should be apparent, therefore, that the applicants novel vessel is extremely maneuverable and that it provides a simplicity and quietness in operation which is highly desirable for fishing and hunting. a

From the preceding, it should be apparent that the applicants have provided a versatile water-craft having a high safety factor which is readily disassembled and foldable into a compact unit capable of easy transportation and storage. The use of the expanded beaded polystyrene for the pontoons eifects a material reduction in weight and hence adds to the portability of the watercraft.

The water-craft is susceptible to various changes within the spirit of the invention. For example, by using additional components, the one-passenger type design discussed above can be easily developed into a two-passenger craft. The enlargement can be readily accomplished i by combining several units of the type described in PEG. 1. Moreover, the power unit herein may be etiectively used with other types of boats through modified clamping members. Thus, the above description should be considered as illustrative and not as limiting the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. A collapsible water craft comprising, in combination, fioatabie load-supporting members releasably positioned in spaced-apart relation by connecting elements extending therebetween, said load-supporting members each being selectively and freely movable lateraliy on said connecting elements with respect to each other and comprising at least two separate sections hinged together at the bottom water-contacting surface thereof, one of which sections is adaptable to be folded at said hinge towards the other section and to be directly adjacent thereto.

2. A collapsible water-craft comprising, in combination, floatable load-supporting members releasabiy positioned in spaced apart relation by connecting elements disposed thereon and extending therebetween, a power unit removably mounted on one of said connecting elements, and a steering assembly positioned on one of said connecting elements, said water-contacting floatable load-supporting members each being freely and selectively movable laterally on said connecting elements with respect to each other and comprising at least three separate sections hinged together at the bottom water-contacting surface thereof, two of which sections are adaptable to be folded at said hinges towards the other section and to be directly adjacent thereto.

3. The collapsible water-craft of claim 2 where a removable seat structure is disposed thereon, which seat structure is foldable when said water-craft is collapsed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,093,196 Lombardi Apr. 14, 1914 1,618,180 Ford Feb. 22, 1927 1,658,500 Tewes Feb. 7, 1928 2,381,631 Waring Aug. 7, 1945 2,495,190 tewart Jan. 17, 1950 2,685,270 Pierac Aug. 3, 1954 2,745,118 Potts et al May 15, 1956 2,759,201 Mci'nney Aug. 21, 1956 2,794,756 Leverenz June 4, 1957 2,876,728 Luger Mar. 10, 1959 2,916,748 Stahrner Dec. 15, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 161,114 Germany June 16, 1898 375,522 Germany Oct. 17, 1922 59,208 Norway Apr. 4, 1938 OTHER REFERENCES Popular Mechanics, page 111, August 1954. 

1. A COLLAPSIBLE WATER-CRAFT COMPRISING, IN COMBINATION, FLOATABLE LOAD-SUPPORTING MEMBERS RELEASABLY POSITIONED IN SPACED-APART RELATION BY CONNECTING ELEMENTS EXTENDING THEREBETWEEN, SAID LOAD-SUPPORTING MEMBERS EACH BEING SELECTIVELY AND FREELY MOVABLE LATERALLY ON SAID CONNECTING ELEMENTS WITH RESPECT TO EACH OTHER AND COMPRISING AT LEAST TWO SEPARATE SECTIONS HINGED TOGETHER AT THE BOT- 